Lehi woman shocked at method used to euthanize stray cats

Updated: 2/19 6:02 pm | Published: 2/18 10:36 pm

LEHI, Utah (ABC 4 News) – A Lehi woman is learning the hard way that animal control isn't always the best place to call to take care of stray animals. She tried to help out a bunch of stray cats in her neighborhood, and the first one she sent to the shelter- ended up dead.

"I put that cat in that situation not knowing that is what they were going to do," said Scarlett Clegg, Lehi resident.

Scarlett Clegg thought she was doing the right thing. She has a dozen stray cats in her neighborhood. And thought calling animal control could help.

"They said we take it to the Lindon animal shelter and they will see if it’s micro-chipped and see if we can place it up for adoption," said Clegg.

So she caught one, and let control pick it up. But when Clegg's sister called the shelter to check on the cat. The shelter said they planned to kill it.

"They get a bunch of cats into a room and they gas them," Clegg said.

Clegg couldn't believe it.

"If I would've known they were going to put the cat down, and the way that they did it, I would've never taken it to animal control," she said.

John Fox with the Humane Society of Utah said cat policies differ depending where you live, but he said any shelter in the state, including the North Utah Valley Animal Shelter in Lindon, can legally euthanize a stray cat in its custody.

“Once they sign it over, they lose control over what happens to the animal,” said John Fox, Chief Investigator, Humane Society of Utah.

Clegg said she's lucky she find out now, before she rounded up the rest of her neighborhood strays.

"Whether it's a stray cat or not, I don't think any animal should die that way," said Clegg.

Since Clegg started looking into this situation she found a way to save her neighborhood cats, and at the same time not let them overrun the neighborhood.

Clegg said she found a place that will spay and neuter the stray cats for free. It’s called the Best Friends Animal Society Spay and Neuter Clinic located at 845 N. 100 W. #107 in Orem. You can contact the clinic 801-404-5999.

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Follow Brian Carlson on Twitter: @tv_briancarlson

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LisaAn - 3/3/2013 2:03 PM

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Alley Cat Allies (http://www.alleycat.org/) will be happy to help you take care of the cats.

thebuzz - 2/21/2013 9:19 PM

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Trap Neuter Return is the effective way to deal with free-roaming community cat populations. Trap and remove does not work as more cats move in and continue to breed causing an endless cycle. The cats are a result of people abandoning their pets and are a community issue and the community should effectively work together to resolve it. There are many species which could be considered invasive, including humans, this does not mean the only solution is to kill them. The goal is to have less cats which results in less euthanasia, less cats to hunt wildlife. Feeding bans to not work, the cats become more desperate. They need a consistent well maintained food source. It is really about finding the most effective solution. Cities have trapped and removed cats for decades and it did not solve it. Trap Neuter Return is most effective approach to outdoor free roaming cats.

NatureAdvocate - 2/21/2013 11:30 AM

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Here's how these ignorant, self-serving, and uneducated TNR-advocates are destroying all life on the planet. -- "The TNR CON-GAME" -- FACT: Trap & Kill failed because cats cannot be trapped faster than they exponentially breed out of control. / FACT: Trap, Neuter, & Release (TNR) is an even bigger abject failure because these man-made ecological disasters cannot be trapped faster than they exponentially breed out of control, and they also continue the cruelly annihilate all native wildlife (from the smallest of prey up to the top predators that are starved to death), and the cats continue to spread many deadly diseases that they carry today -- FOR WHICH THERE ARE NO VACCINES AGAINST THEM. Many of which are even listed as bioterrorism agents. (Such as Tularemia and The Plague -- Yes, people have already died from cat-transmitted plague in the USA. No fleas nor rats even required. The cats themselves carry and transmit the plague all on their own.) / FACT: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY _NOTHING_ HUMANE ABOUT TNR. Nearly every last TNR'ed cat dies an inhumane death by road-kill, from cat and animal attacks, environmental poisons, starvation, dehydration, freezing to death, infections, parasites, etc. And if very very lucky humanely shot to death or re-trapped and drowned (the two most common methods employed on all farms and ranches to protect their gestating livestock's offspring and valuable native wildlife dying from cats' Toxoplasmosis parasites). This doesn't begin to count the thousands of defenseless native animals that cats skin alive and disembowel alive for their daily and hourly play-toys. The only difference in destroying cats immediately and humanely instead of trapping, sterilizing, then releasing them to an inhumane death; is that money isn't going into an HSUS or SPCA board-member's pocket, veterinarian's pocket, cat-food company CEO's pocket, or a drug-company CEO's pocket. And that's the ONLY difference!

NatureAdvocate - 2/21/2013 11:27 AM

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FACT: Cats are a man-made (through selective breeding) invasive species. And as such, are no less of a man-made environmental disaster than any other caused by man. Cats are even worse than an oil-spill of continent-sized proportions. They not only kill off rare and endangered marine-mammals along all coastlines from run-off carrying cats' Toxoplasma gondii parasites, they destroy the complete food-chain in every ecosystem where cats are found. From smallest of prey gutted and skinned alive for cats' tortured play-toys, up to the top predators that are starved to death from cats destroying their ONLY food sources. (Precisely what cats caused on my own land not long ago.) / FACT: Hunted To Extinction (or in this case, extirpation of all outdoor cats) is the ONLY method that is faster than a species like cats can exponentially out-breed and out-adapt to. Especially a man-made invasive species like these cats that can breed 2-4X's faster than any naturally occurring cat-species. / FACT: In _TWELVE_YEARS_ Alley Cat ALL-LIES of NYC have only reduced feral cats in their own city by 0.08% to 0.024% (as the months go on that percentage becomes more insignificant), allowing more than 99.92% to 99.976% to exponentially breed out of control. Here's how Alley-Cat-ALL-LIES' deceptive math works: If you TNR 4 cats and 3 get flattened by cars this translates to 75% fewer feral-cats everywhere. Alley Cat ALL-LIES can't even reduce cats in their own city, yet they promote it as a worldwide solution. Then even bigger fools fall for it and promote it.

NatureAdvocate - 2/21/2013 11:25 AM

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FACT: When researching over 100 of the most "successful" TNR programs worldwide, JUST ONE trapped more than 0.4%. Oregon's 50,000 TNR'ed cats (the highest rate I found) is 4.9% of all ferals in their state. Yet, by applying population growth calculus on the unsterilized 95.1% they will have trapped only 0.35% of all cats in their state sometime this year. Less than 0.4% is a far cry from the required 80%-90% to be the least bit effective. / FACT: Their mythical "vacuum effect" is a 100% LIE. A study done by the Texas A&M University proved that any perceived "vacuum" is just the simple case that CATS ATTRACT CATS. Get rid of them all and there's no cats there to attract more. I proved this myself by shooting and burying hundreds of them on my own land. ZERO cats replaced them FOR 3 YEARS NOW. If you want more cats, keep even one of them around, more will find you. That university study also found that sterilized cats very poorly defend any territory. Non-sterilized cats, being more aggressive, take over the sterilized cats' resources (shelter & food if any). If there is any kind of "vacuum effect" at all, it is that sterilizing cats cause non-sterilized cats to restore the reproductive void. / FACT: During all this investigation I have discovered something that is unfaltering without fail. Something that you can bet your very life on and win every last time. That being -- IF A TNR CAT-HOARDER IS TALKING THEN THEY ARE LYING. 100% guaranteed!

NatureAdvocate - 2/21/2013 11:19 AM

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"Gas chambers" use various mixes of INERT NON-POISONOUS gases, or use low-pressure (high altitude) where the air is just withdrawn, causing death by hypoxia which is even MORE humane than lethal injection. Please educate your sorry selves. Google for: BBC - Horizon - The Science of Killing A documentary researching the MOST humane methods to euthanize humans (for corporal punishment) or animals for food. There are even links where you can watch the whole show online. Any living organism (with higher functioning nervous systems, i.e. has a brain) will die in a complete and total state of euphoria, not even aware they are facing death. This was one of the methods that the researcher even used on himself to test it. He allowed himself to be monitored under the conditions of high-altitude situations, where the air was withdrawn from the chamber. This is also the source of the phrase "Rapture of the Deep" for divers, when they run out of oxygen. Ask any drowning survivor and they'll tell you what an interesting and wonderful experience it was to face death. None of them ever fear death anymore after surviving a drowning. Once a human or animal gets over the initial discomfort of holding their breath -- it's euphoric blissville all the way to death.

batchild - 2/20/2013 1:15 AM

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The gas chamber is a horrible way to euthanize animals; it can take up to 30 minutes for the animals to die while they're fighting to breathe and suffering. There was a cat from Utah named Andrea who made the national news after she survived TWO gassing attempts in 2011 (she was thankfully adopted). The use of animal gas chambers is banned in 20 states so far, and I think they should be banned in ALL states. You can check out the website Take Action-Ban Animal Gas chambers at http://www.takeaction-bananimalgaschambers.com/ to learn more about animal gas chambers and what you can do to help get rid of them.

thebuzz - 2/19/2013 10:12 PM

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This is exactly what got me involved in Trap Neuter Return! After I learned what happens in the shelter process, I became more involved in TNR as an alternative to Trap and Kill, which actually does not resolve the issue as more cats move in causing an endless cycle. Outdoor free-roaming cats are a community issue as they are a result of people abandoning their unfixed pets and it takes the community to effectively resolve it. Some jurisdictions are now more progressive than others. You can learn more about TNR on the following link: http://www.utahpets.org/nmhcms/tabid/89/Default.aspx#.USRaHugsWMI Call Best Friends - Utah for free vouchers 801-432-2124 x 19

CamilleSnow - 2/19/2013 7:30 PM

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Utah has several rescue groups for cats and dog, find one of them. Facebook is a great place to network and find these groups. Cause for Paws, CAWS, RSQ dogs... until we have no kill shelters in Utah these groups will always be quietly behind the scenes pulling cats and dogs from shelters for foster homes and to be adopted. Support them in anyway you can!

kybo61 - 2/19/2013 4:34 PM

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In Cody Wyoming in the late 1990's and early 2000's, the local police used to take feral and stray cats out and shoot them. It took the efforts of a very determined woman who was a friend of mine to bring national scrutiny on this practice and legislative action, and the practice was eventually discontinued, several veterinarians hired and humane euthanasia (by injection) is now practiced there.

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